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Just picked my first good knife!

Hey all, been a lurker and decided to join. I picked up a Global G-5 today. I know this isn't a custom made blade, but it's a significant upgrade for me. I'm wondering if you guys can provide me some tips for using and taking care of it.

I currently own a spyderco sharpmaker and plan on using it to keep the Global sharp. I also picked up a Boos cutting board. With regular use how often should I hit the knife with the Sharpmaker? I have a honing steel as well, but I'm worried that I may hurt the edge since I'm new to using a steel.

Any advice, tips, or recommendations for further reading is appreciated!

Looks like you're set. The next step is to learn to sharpen freehand since the Sharpmaker is kinda limited. As for the steel, just go slow and look at what you're doing. The edge should kiss the steel. Don't give in to the tendency to go fast. There's not much to taking care of a Global. Pretty tough knives. You should sharpen when you see chips in your edge or the edge isn't cutting it after a few passes on the steel.

Thanks for the tips so far. I'm really looking forward to putting the knife through its paces this weekend.

With the G5 and perhaps Globals as a whole, what king of bevel do they have? Is it a chisel or is it something else? I have been doing some reading and someone referred to it as a "apple" bevel. They also went on to say that Globals have 10 degree bevel on each side.

This video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCa8JFDdyJU shows a guy using a steel and a Sharpmaker on a Global. He said to angle the blade an additional 5 degrees, but the person at the store said that the knife was 30 degrees so I assumed i could use the Sharpmaker on the 30 degree setting. Is that true or do I need to take some special consideration when sharpening the blade?

Hey all, been a lurker and decided to join. I picked up a Global G-5 today. I know this isn't a custom made blade, but it's a significant upgrade for me. I'm wondering if you guys can provide me some tips for using and taking care of it.

I currently own a spyderco sharpmaker and plan on using it to keep the Global sharp. I also picked up a Boos cutting board. With regular use how often should I hit the knife with the Sharpmaker? I have a honing steel as well, but I'm worried that I may hurt the edge since I'm new to using a steel.

Any advice, tips, or recommendations for further reading is appreciated!

Welcome!!

What kind of honing rod do you have? Hopefully one which is harder than your knife. Here's a few basics about honing your kitchen knife.

Eventually (soonish) you may want to invest in a water stone for proper freehand sharpening. A simple 1/6k combo stone should do the trick for you. I know that Global steel can be a pita to sharpen sometimes so, good luck! Any questions, fire away!

Thanks for the tips so far. I'm really looking forward to putting the knife through its paces this weekend.

With the G5 and perhaps Globals as a whole, what king of bevel do they have? Is it a chisel or is it something else? I have been doing some reading and someone referred to it as a "apple" bevel. They also went on to say that Globals have 10 degree bevel on each side.

This video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCa8JFDdyJU shows a guy using a steel and a Sharpmaker on a Global. He said to angle the blade an additional 5 degrees, but the person at the store said that the knife was 30 degrees so I assumed i could use the Sharpmaker on the 30 degree setting. Is that true or do I need to take some special consideration when sharpening the blade?

My global came with and is recommended by the manufacturer to have a 70/30 asymmetrical bevel. The suggestion that the angle is 30 degrees is probably meant for both sides equaling 30. I can't give you an exact number on my angles for the G-19 I have but the front is about 10 and the back is about 15-20.

OOTB bevels on a lot of knives aren't great. Globals are no exception, in my experience. Globals are relatively soft at 58 hrc (That's softer than any honing steel I know of.) so don't go below 25 total included angle unless you've tried the 25 deg first. Basically, start thick and work your way thinner until the edge just doesn't hold up as long as you'd like and then back off on the next sharpening.